The present invention relates to point-of-sale terminals, and, more specifically, to methods and systems for processing product sales at point-of-sale terminals.
In many stores, purchases are consummated at a point of sale (xe2x80x9cPOSxe2x80x9d) terminal which includes a card authorization terminal (xe2x80x9cCATxe2x80x9d), such as those manufactured by Verifone, Inc., for reading cards such as credit cards and debit cards and generating data relating to a purchase. During a sale, the CAT typically communicates, directly or indirectly, with a credit card issuer""s computer that maintains customer financial accounts. The CAT transmits purchase data, such as a customer""s credit card account number, a merchant identifier for specifying the merchant selling the purchase, a purchase price and the items included in the purchase. The issuer computer receives this purchase data from the CAT, and determines whether to authorize the purchase. If the purchase is authorized, the issuer computer debits the customer""s financial account by the purchase price and stores some or all of the purchase data for subsequent use in generating a billing statement.
The issuer computer thus accumulates information about the customer""s purchases. Such information may be used in providing rewards to a customer in return for past purchases with the financial account. For example, in the xe2x80x9cU$AVExe2x80x9d program promoted by First Data Corporation, credit card account holders are automatically provided a discount on a present purchase. The discount is based on previous purchases the customer has made, and typically takes the form of a reduced purchase price or a credit on the customer""s credit card account. Similarly, the American Express xe2x80x9cExpress Rewardsxe2x80x9d program reduces a customer""s purchase price if he has made certain types of purchases in the past, and the American Express xe2x80x9cCustom Extrasxe2x80x9d program alerts credit card account holders to savings from particular merchants on their billing statements.
At best, such systems utilize information about customers"" purchases to provide rewards for past purchases. Merchants hope that customer anticipation of such rewards may generate future sales. However, there is no guarantee that merchant will enjoy additional business from the customers. In addition, customers may not always remember which types of purchases will eventually yield rewards. Accordingly, the rewards may not provide a strong incentive to make purchases.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for offering supplementary product sales to a customer via a card authorization terminal.
In accordance with the present invention, a central controller, which may be operated by a credit card issuer, receives a signal indicative of a purchase from a card authorization terminal. The purchase signal includes at least one purchase parameter, such as a customer account identifier, product price or product identifiers for specifying items purchased. The central controller determines a supplementary product to offer that is based on the at least one purchase parameter. A product identifier for specifying the supplementary product is transmitted to the card authorization terminal, where the customer chooses whether to accept the offered supplementary product. The card authorization terminal generates and transmits to the central controller a selection signal indicative of whether the supplementary product is accepted.
If the selection signal indicates that the supplementary product is accepted, the central controller adjusts the balance of one or more financial accounts in dependence on an adjustment value associated with the supplementary product. The financial accounts may be, for example, a credit card account of the customer, a bank account of the merchant controlling the card authorization terminal, and/or a bank account of a merchant offering the accepted supplementary product. Thus, payment for the supplementary product or rewards for accepting the supplementary product may be transferred among various parties automatically.